


In-between

by hydrangea



Category: Ghost Hunt
Genre: Character-centric, Closure, Gen, post-manga
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-01
Updated: 2012-08-01
Packaged: 2017-11-11 04:55:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/474753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hydrangea/pseuds/hydrangea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Naru went home, Mai and the others have a new case under Madoka's lead, but things aren't quite as they seem.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In-between

**Author's Note:**

  * For [talibusorabat (hermitcave)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hermitcave/gifts).



> I haven't taken the storyline of the second light novel series into consideration as I've only read brief summaries, so this can be considered to be going AU from the end of the manga.

My mother didn’t leave much behind when she died. A house, more furniture than a young girl can afford to keep or put in storage, and a deposit box filled with photos and legal documents. What was left after the house was sold kept me in school and let me pay for my own studio apartment when I decided I couldn’t continue living on the good will of my teacher anymore. It didn’t pay for food or clothing – well, not completely. I’m not a beggar, but I’m not afraid to say that before I got the job at SPR I lived mostly on the stipends I received. Seeing as I won’t have that income for much longer, I guess that’s how things are going to be again soon.

Oh! Didn’t I tell you?

Hi, I’m Taniyama Mai and in two weeks I’m going to be unemployed.

It all began when my boss at SPR – that stands for Shibuya Psychic Research – found the remains of his dead twin brother on the way back to Tokyo after finishing a case. I didn’t know then that finding his brother was the reason Naru (my boss) came to Japan. Neither did I know that Shibuya Kazuya wasn’t his real name; it turned out that Naru really was a famous professor called Oliver Davis!

It was a real shock. I’d heard a lot about Oliver Davis from Bou-san, but I’d never imagined that I would meet him. Or that he’d turn out to be Naru… Anyway, having learned of Naru’s real identity, it felt natural for Naru to return home after he found his brother’s remains. It didn’t make it less sad but at least we all understood why.

It’s been a few months since then. I remained working at the SPR, now under the leadership of Naru’s friend Madoka, and by now, I can even think back at the times before and smile. I miss Naru and Lin-san, but crying has never helped anyone, especially not when faced with something like this.

It began two weeks ago, in the beginning of August…

***

The heat was oppressing. It slammed down on them the moment they stepped out of the car, the song of the cicadas cutting into unaccustomed ears as they sang among the wheat-gold grass. Further down the road, a slowly drying pond sent wafts of bugs swarming across the countryside, the scent of decaying matter drifting along on their backs. One bug, then another, sat down on Mai’s arm and the sting of their bite made her yelp. She hit them, then kicked her leg as another blood-sucking fly landed on her foot.

“Aww, they like you,” Bou-san said with a big grin, hands knitted behind his head. The cowboy hat on his head tipped slightly forwards, the dark shade lending his features a curious menace. “Not as much as they like Ayako though.”

Mai looked over at the swearing, flailing priestess in spite of herself and muffled a giggle. “Don’t be mean, Bou-san.”

“Would you have preferred me to say they hated her?” Ayako spared a second to shoot Bou-san a glare. He held up his hands in mock defense. “Sorry, sorry.”

“Are you coming sometime today?” Naru wondered as he came around the car carrying his computer bag.

“Coming!” Mai sing-songed even as she gave Naru a mental kick. He could be so annoying! As if a little bit of banter would—

No.

No, that was wrong.

Naru wasn’t there anymore; he’d gone home to England. He couldn’t be with them now.

Mai stopped. The cicadas went quiet.

“Naru?”

She turned around. They’d all disappeared.

“Ayako? Bou-san?”

The world faded, leaving her in a black dream world. Her eyes drooped, sleep pulling her down. She blinked, and—

Mai woke up. The fan in her ceiling spun lazily above her, moving the hot air around but not lending any relief from the heat. The swishing sound echoed slightly, the utter lack of noise from the outside making it even louder. She turned on her side and stared at the poster-decorated wall. What had _that_ been about? A dream? She squinted at the calendar next to her portable stove. Saturday. The same as in her dream. They were going on a case today – a haunted home. The client had called them after an entire room had had its furniture shifted. Pretty normal, as far as these cases went.

It wasn’t time to get up, but Mai did so anyway. The dream lingered in her mind as she started to clean up and make herself breakfast. By the time it was time to leave, however, it had faded. When she stepped outside and locked the door behind her, it was almost gone. She squinted down the street, the sun beating down at her despite the early hour.

Someone honked on their horn and Mai turned her head the other way. “Bou-san?”

“Right on the money,” Bou-san agreed as he stuck his head out the window. “Come on! The princess in the backseat is getting impatient.”

Mai grinned at the sound of Ayako hitting Bou-san in the head and stuffed her small bag into the back before scrambling into the car.

***

The heat was oppressing. It slammed down on them the moment they stepped out of the car, the song of the cicadas cutting into unaccustomed ears as they sang among the wheat-gold grass. Further down the road, a slowly drying pond sent wafts of bugs swarming over the countryside, the scent of decaying matter drifting along on their backs. One bug, then another, sat down on Mai’s arm and the sting of their bite made her yelp. She lifted her hand to smack them, then stopped. Frowned.

She’d been here before.

She turned slowly, looked at where Naru had appeared. No one.

“Coincidence, Mai. Coincidence,” she muttered, slapping her cheeks twice. “Concentrate on your work.”

“What’s wrong?” Masako glided up at her side, a parasol above her head keeping the worst of the sun at bay. “You’re looking even more constipated than usual.”

Mai gritted her teeth and reminded herself that Masako really _was_ rather important for their case. “I just remembered a dream, it’s nothing.”

To her surprise, Masako’s brows furrowed slightly. “You should be careful. There’s something that doesn’t belong here.” She glided away again before Mai had the time to reply.

Mai growled under her breath, hefting a box into her arms. The words didn’t leave her mind though: something that didn’t belong? Yeah, Mai wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box, but if Masako could sense that… Maybe that dream had been trying to tell her something.

Dreams or no dreams, the equipment room had to be set up. Mai and the others (Masako and Madoka excluded as they met with the client) worked tirelessly to be finished before nightfall. When all base-line figures and positions were finally input into the computer, Mai collapsed bonelessly in a free chair. “Those stairs nearly killed me.”

“You tell me.” Bou-san had dramatically thrown himself on the floor, one arm over his face. “Couldn’t we have gotten a room at the first floor?”

“There, there.” John smiled, but Mai thought that even he looked slightly worn out. “We can’t set up everything in one of the rooms that might be haunted.”

“As if that monkey could think that far.” Ayako was standing at the window, looking out over the surround fields towards the distant pond. “I didn’t think fireflies could live in a place like this.”

Something tugged at Mai’s attention and she wandered over, following Ayako’s line of sight towards the pond. There were small lights above the pond, blinking in and out and drifting slowly along the banks as the last sliver of sun disappeared beneath the horizon. It didn’t look like fireflies though, it looked like—

“I think I’m going for a walk,” she heard herself saying. “It’s way too hot inside.”

Bou-san lifted his head, a frown on his face. “You’ll be eaten alive by the bugs.”

“Mai will be fine,” Masako interjected as she entered the room, Madoka at her heels. “No bugs could bite through that thick skin of hers.”

“Gee, thanks,” Mai muttered, but she nevertheless left the room and took the stairs towards the door. Soon enough, they’d all be stuck in the equipment room for the few hours the phenomena had been reported. It’d do her good to go outside.

The air had grown slightly chillier, but had compensated by turning muggy to the point where Mai’s skin seemed to be covered in glue and water. The bugs swarmed heavily and Mai kept her hands inside her thin long-sleeved sweater, hoping it’d keep the worst of it away. The path to the pond was well trod, the earth tightly packed and dusted by the needles of stubby pines scattered across the grounds. Where the path met the pound, she could glimpse some sort of stone structure, a flash of white against dark where someone had hung a cloth to dry across it.

A sudden breeze ran a chill down her back and Mai shivered, hugging her arms around herself. “Don’t get any ideas, Mai,” she told herself. “They didn’t say that they’d seen anything at the pond.”

The stone-structure turned out to be a crumbling wall that might’ve been the foundation of a house once upon a time. Dark smudges seemed to indicate it had burned at some point, but as Mai placed a hand on the largest of the stones, she could only feel the remaining warmth of the sun. There didn’t seem to be anything ominous about the place at all.

One by one, the lights she had seen from the window appeared and started to flicker. Mai squinted across the dark water, trying to see what it was. Not fireflies – no fireflies could ever give off a shine like the ones over the lake, bright and pure.

“They’re souls.”

Mai jumped, letting out a squeak. She spun around, then stared at the person that had appeared beside her. “Na-naru?” she found herself saying, then hastily corrected herself. “Gene?”

He turned towards her, that gentle smile so familiar to her clearly visible even in the glum night. “I’m really glad to finally meet you with my own name.”

Mai blushed furiously. “Well, you could’ve just said!”

There was a flash of sadness as Gene turned back towards the lake. “My brother wasn’t ready. And I’m sure you would’ve had a harder time to believing someone that claimed to be the brother of someone that hadn’t ever mentioned them.”

“Naru said that you’d find rest.” Mai had tried not to see the remains that the divers had found, but had found herself drawn there anyway. She didn’t think she’d ever forget.

“And I have.” Gene’s voice was distant and as Mai looked his way, she could see that he was turning transparent. “I believe I still owe you a goodbye as well as a thank you.”

She blinked, the movement feeling slower than usual. “A thank you?”

“You’ve started down a path you probably wouldn’t have chosen if it wasn’t for me.” There was something rising inside of Mai, something warm, something searching. “I woke something up when you found me the first time.” He was still smiling as he reached out towards her, something glowing in his hand. “The least I can do is give you a beginning."

Mai reached out automatically, the glowing thing flowing into her hand. Gene began to fade and she reached out impulsively, grabbing his hand with her free. “Wait! Won’t I ever see you again?”

Gene frowned, his facial expressions half there, half not. “I don’t know. You’re growing stronger, Mai. I don’t think that even my brother knows what you can do.”

Something warm and wet slipped down her face. “I don’t want you to become a ghost.”

“I won’t.” He wiped away the tear gently, then began to drift away, joining the lights above the pond. “I’m sorry for calling you all here.” He pointed towards the glow Mai still held. “That should give you all the answers you need.”

Mai looked down at the glow and it pulsed gently as if in reply. When she looked up again, Gene was gone. “Goodbye,” she whispered, then she turned around and looked down at her body, slumped bonelessly against the stone foundation, fast asleep. Further away, she could see Bou-san and Ayako make their way towards her, calling her name loudly. “Time to wake up, I guess.”

She drifted over, then sank down.

She opened her eyes.

“Mai! Where are you?”

She looked down at her hand – the light was still there, shimmering. “I’m here!” she called. “Sorry, I feel asleep.”

Bou-san rounded the foundation and scowled when he saw her. “What have I told you about wandering away and falling asleep?”

She smiled sheepishly. “To not do it?”

“That’s right.” He ruffled her hair, then yelled over his shoulder. “I’ve got her, Ayako.” Then he noticed the light. “My, my, what have you found.”

Mai held it up so he could see. “I’ve got it on good authority it will help us with the case.”

Ayako stomped into visual range before Bou-san had the time to comment. “Enough!” she said and slapped her arms. “I’m getting eaten alive here. You’re all right, Mai?”

“I’m fine.” Mai held up the glow. “But I think we’ll want Masako to take a look at this.”

They walked back to the house to find Masako waiting at the door, as if knowing what they’d bring. The case ended quickly after that, Masako’s readings pointing them in the direction of the remains of an old spirit pulling the pond lights towards the house riding on the backs of fireflies.

“Mischief spirits,” Bou-san said in disgust as they prepared to send the lights on their way. “I hate mischief spirits.”

“Nature spirits,” Ayako corrected primly and rolled up her sleeves once to get better reach. The windows towards the pond were wide open and the old pines seemed to rustle awake like old crusty men as she began to chant.

Mai stood to the side, Masako beside her, and watched, feeling as if this was both the beginning and end of something.

“You knew that we were being called here,” she said in a quiet moment, pitching her voice low enough for only Masako to hear. Masako’s head dipped slightly, which Mai took as an affirmation. “Did you know that it was Gene?”

“I didn’t think it was malicious,” Masako corrected. “And it only seemed to want to communicate something.” She looked at Mai, something vulnerable in her eyes. “Was it really Gene?”

“Yes. I don’t know why though.” Mai looked down on her hands. “He said he wanted to thank me.”

“Sometimes,” Masako said softly, “not even the strongest medium can reach a spirit. It doesn’t matter how hard you try, how far you reach. You just can’t seem to touch each other. Then there’s people that can’t seem to touch the closest of spirits or sense even the clearest of intents, but can touch and feel those spirits that not even masters can reach. You should be grateful, Mai. If I had your gift, I would be thanking the heavens.”

She walked away, leaving Mai to think. Working with Naru – with Madoka, as well – had woken something inside her. She’d made friends, she’d found something that she wanted to do, something that had been lacking. One time, long ago, when she had been alone in the office with Lin, he’d said that Naru believed in her, that he trusted in those instincts of hers. Maybe that had been a hint.

***

They went home early the next morning. Carrying out the equipment seemed to take double the time than carrying it inside, even though they were carrying it down the stairs this time, but Mai didn’t listen to Ayako and Bou-san’s bickering, too busy with thinking. Back in Tokyo, preparing to leave the office, she stopped Madoka on her way into Naru’s old office (now Madoka's).

“I think I want to quit my work here,” she said.

Madoka looked surprised. “Why? I thought you liked working here.”

Mai ran her fingers awkwardly through her hair. “It’s my last year at school next year and I’m going to need good grades to get into the university I want. I don’t think I’ll have the time for a part-time job that keeps me away this much.”

“You’ve decided on a university then?” Madoka said knowingly. “I know you’ve been having problems choosing.”

“I’m going to study folklore.” Mai clenched her hands into fists, her shoulders set. “I’ve learned so much here, but I want to know more: I want to know as much as Bou-san and Ayako does. I don’t want to be a priestess or anything, but I want to be able to _help_ just a little.”

“You know,” Madoka said, “you sound as if you want to go into this business professionally.”

“I think it’s what I’m meant to do – and it’s what I want to do. It might be hard to find work or I might end up teaching along with working, but I’m used to that. I just think that this is it for me, that SPR opened the door to me…” Mai trailed off helplessly. “I don’t know how to explain it.” She caught Madoka’s expression. “What?”

Madoka covered her mouth with her hand, muffling a giggle. “It’s just… Noll said you’d say that. ‘She’ll figure it out eventually,’ he said, ‘even it’ll take her unused brain a few months to realize it.’”

Mai scowled. “I’m going to hit him _so hard_ —“ Then she stopped. “He _knew_ I’d decide on this?”

“Yup.” Madoka didn’t bother to hide her grin now. “And he said not to worry about work – SPR can find something do for even a folklorist with a sieve in her head.”

Something in Mai’s head clicked. “He’s coming back?”

“Not for a while,” Madoka cautioned. “There are things he needs to do at home. And there’s certainly plenty for _you_ to do if you want to get into a good university.” Madoka was right, Mai knew, but the thought of it still made something bubble inside her. “Anyway, work for two more weeks so you’ll get the full salary. After that, I’d like to keep you in mind for time when we’re short-handed or anytime you find that you need more money.”

“That’s fine.” Mai gave into impulse and hugged Madoka tight. “Thank you so much.”

Madoka patted her head. “You’re welcome.”

***

And that’s how I became unemployed. Or not really, I suppose – Bou-san is already threatening to say he’s over-worked to get me called in. Ayako keeps telling him to let me be, but I think that’s half of the fun for him. I’ll be surprised if the two of them don’t start dating eventually – but don’t tell them that I said that! They’d never let me live it down.

It’s going to be tight living on my savings and my stipends, but I’ll make it, just as I’ll make it through my exams next year. I can get anything done if I set my mind to it and I’m determined to manage. Next year, Naru will be back and then we’ll all be together again. Until then, I’m going to work hard and keep my head out of the water. After all, I know where I’m going now.


End file.
